Chemistry is the most central of the sciences. New breakthroughs in fields such as genetics, biochemistry, medicine, materials science, forensics, nanotechnology, drug discovery, the environment and next-generation computer hardware are all driven by chemistry.
Chemistry is about the molecules all around us. It is about matter: specifically how matter changes. Doing a degree in Chemistry will allow you to learn about why the things around us behave the way they do.
In fact, we all do chemistry every day! As soon as you wake up in the morning, you start doing chemistry. Chemistry explains why an egg changes when you fry it and why your non-stick pan is non-sticky. Chemistry explains how soap and shampoo make you clean, why you feel tired before coffee and alert after it, and how the petrol in your car gets you to work. One of our first year labs helps you understand why perfumes smell the way they do. In fact you start doing some chemistry yourself as soon as your eyes open - your sense of vision works because a small organic molecule changes shape in the back of your eye when light hits it.
Chemistry explains all this and much more, such as how the next generation of fuels can be produced sustainably, how new anticancer drugs might work, and what kinds of molecules are observed in interstellar space.